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I got a friend who's MAGA and I've been talking to her about her politics for a bit and she's willing to hear me out on my concerns. It's also black history month, and she knows nothing about black history.

I wanna watch a movie with her or a documentary that dives into modern-day racism without explicitly putting down MAGA/conservatives. My goal is not to insult her or make her feel bad, it's to educate her, hence why I'm asking.

(Please let me know if something I've said is problematic or offensive in some kinda way? Sometimes I word things badly or I will ask things that arent okay and I dont realize it until I hit post, lemme know so I can correct myself for the future thankyuuuu ;w;)

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It's not quite the movie/documentary you are looking for, but I have seen https://leavingmaga.org/ spread around.

[-] Jela@lemmy.today 8 points 1 day ago

I would highly recommend Blue Bayou, it's about a Korean-American man in Louisiana raised by adoptive parents, but never got the proper paperwork to be considered a citizen. Amazing film, had me tearing up.

[-] Naryaskant@lemmy.today 38 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Before you try to educate someone else, I suggest you educate yourself first (because this is a really hairy terrain to navigate).

https://youarenotsosmart.com/2022/06/27/yanss-236-how-minds-change/

https://www.streetepistemology.com/

https://www.cnvc.org/

Oooo yummy links

[-] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

If Beale Street Could Talk

[-] SuperEars@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago

"Jesus Camp" is just a dive into evangelical child indoctrination camps, in the George W Bush era. One scene has this prayer circle of children praying to a cardboard cutout of W.

It's arguably not constructive, but I'd say it's more a mirror to reflect towards a MAGA viewer "Look - this is you now."

That looks like a good one too

[-] pdxfed@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Related: Marjoe, is a 1970s Oscar winner for best documentary about a child preacher, Baptist preaching, the money involved in the preaching/god industry, and to a degree clearly exposed the raw core of manipulation inherent. It's a documentary so doesn't come straight out and say it, so it could be interpreted differently perhaps by a strong religious conservative. It's a fantastic exposé.

Honestly some of the Michael moore movies; Roger and me might hit different for some of those folks now that they're suffering the continued effects of wealth concentration that is so flagrantly and unashamedly happening. Sicko will probaby hit many folks across the aisle as the issue is universal. Bowling for Columbine might be interesting depending on if they are a gun nut.

The atomic cafe is in my top 5 movies of any genre. It's not just about arms proliferation, it pulls together a ton of cultural pieces and shows how naive, propagandized, and horrible a nascent fascist nation began post WWII.

[-] Iamsqueegee@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 days ago

American History X might be a good movie.

[-] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago

Make sure she is actually interested in watching or learning more. It can come off as very preachy and grandiose what you're doing.

[-] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago

Like those MAGA priests? /s

Mmmm true.... How do I not sound preachy?

[-] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

Honestly? I would back out of this entirely and just enjoy the friendship. Personally, I would feel manipulated regardless, I dont like the idea of friends with an agenda for me. What I believe is my business.

If she starts it? Sure, that's a different matter. That's how you avoid sounding preachy. By not preaching.

I mean... I just worry for her dude... Her dad already gog laid off just 2 nights after they were talking to me about how "Trump was gonna make more jobs n fix all the layoffs" or whatever tf. and the company her dad works for LOBBIED WITH TRUMP to get him elected.

Shes super sheltered and just knows absolutely nothing about black history which I feel is a problem. At the very least I just her educated about black issues n shit cus her and her mom mentioned some shit about being "Colorblind" and just- as a darkie myself im just not about that 😭

[-] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

It is up to them to learn from their mistakes. That's how learning works.

[-] choui4@lemmy.zip 15 points 2 days ago

Not trying to dissuade you, but have you considered talking to her about class politics and the economy?

I believe I have and she's brought up some conspiracy theories to try and dissuade my points. Im gonna prolly educate her tonight on the psychology if Conspiracy theories and see what she thinks after that

[-] choui4@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago

Will you keep us posted?

Have you ever heard of the Socratic method?

I have not actually, and yeah ima keep yall posted ^^

[-] choui4@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 days ago

Hell ya, best of luck.

The Socratic involves (but if not limited to), asking the person youre conversing with a lot of follow up questions. Continuing to drill down until you get to the root of the issue. Then, you can work backwards to change their thinking to be more grounded in reality.

This is a really bad explanation but it works wonders for Consevatives. Ill give you a real-world example i had with my parents:

Them: "we dont like immigrants"

Me: why?

Them: they take our jobs

Me: how do they do that?

Them: by working for subpar wages

Me: ya, it sucks because it does take jobs away from people in this country. I wish employers were willing to pay fair wages

(Cut short for brevity)

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

unlikely if you cant target the root of the problems, they would just call things woke. your basically saying changing thier mind without offending them, they are easily offended.

if shes willing to look at MLK, m. and the civil rights movement.

Nahh she isnt the type to yell "WOKE" at stuff. Thank god. She's just SEVERELY in the dark about shit.

She knows nothing about black history month, celebrities like Beyonce, Dolly Parton or Kanye; I thought she was fucking with me when she said "Isnt West a direction?" when I mentioned his name.

The only things she knows about are Politics and Roleplay (We roleplay gay shit on discord and that's how we met lmfao)

So "woke stuff" doesnt phase her cus we roleplay "woke" stuff all the time with Monster boys on discord 🤣🤣 Her family is also aware and is super chill about it.

[-] freshcow@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

The Perfect Neighbor on Netflix had me in tears. About a black mother who was killed in Florida by someone trying to claim Stand Your Ground laws

[-] atro_city@fedia.io 7 points 2 days ago

Not a movie but a youtube playlist: The Alt-Right Playbook

The first thing that comes to mind is that documentary that I think was on Netflix about the 13th amendment. It's just called "13th".

[-] disregardable@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I think you should start with Nixon. Start with the war on the drugs. Some people like to believe that racism "stopped" after the civil rights movement, but we just changed the way we described the targeting.

is there a good movie for that?

[-] SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Honestly, I don't have such a movie to suggest, I don't think such a movie can exist, due to the Backfire Effect. Changing people's minds takes time, and the impetus to change has to come from within. The handful of times that I've managed to do it involved sharing an idea or observation that doesn't immediately trigger their defenses, but metaphorically is like dropping a grain of sand in the gears of their mind, and then letting it do the work of grinding away at the teeth, until one day their old thought process breaks down. It can take months.

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[-] Superdooper@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

I feel like this is the perfect video for this as the guy himself used to be alt right : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OygHnodf0XM&t=1

Maybe not one as direct as that one if ya catch my drift. She gets defensive and dismissive if im too direct about it. but ima keep that vid in mind

[-] TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Peter Watkins

The War Game, Punishment Park, (the longuets) La commune (Paris, 1871)

They are each a documentary with a but.

The War Game talk about atomic bomb and use real citations but nothing in the movie is real. Punishment Parc take a hypothetical ~~facist~~ situation where the US government build a open prison into the Mojave desert and let loose convict in a kind of capture the flag run against police trainees, the fun part is that he take left leaning actor to play right wing voice and vice versa. In La Commune he take a theatre troupe and made them play the event of the Commune de Paris but there’s a « TV Crew » that are citing journal headline of the time.

[-] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I'll ask my wife, because she's been consuming a lot of racism lately. (Lots of civil war era books, with a strong focus on the injustices against black people.)

Off the top of my head there's of course, Roots.

We also watched the Free State of Jones. It's based on a true story that puts you in the shoes of a Rebel soldier who goes AWOL, and befriends a group of runaway slaves.

Since you know your friend better than any of us, you might want to watch any suggestions alone, and possibly even search online for an in depth analysis of it before presenting it to your friend. That way you can be prepared to intelligently discuss any topics that might come up.

EDIT: My wife reminded me of American History X, which is more anti KKK than pro-black, but it's also much more modern and VERY graphic.

Good luck!

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It would have to involve a lot of emotion. It would need to trigger empathy in them so should center around a person who they would identify with. For racism it's unlikely you'll find a documentary for that.

They have empathy, its just misguided. They arent a racist but believe in being "Colorblind" (which is another conversation ima have to have with her lmao)

Her and her family just seem like the Misguided type of brainwashed where the only reason they became MAGA is out of some kind of fear or desperation for wanting to better their country. Innocent reasons that lead them into a horrible pipeline. They arent too far gone yet cus they enjoy talking to me and hearing out what I have to say. Even admitting when they are wrong in some aspects

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Racism and a lot of the things conservatives believe out of fear are emotional reactions. They don't reason themselves into positions so you cannot reason them out of them.

But I can and I did. I've already gotten her to back down on her ideas of Book bannings and Trans people and got her to admit being wrong in somethings.

[-] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 3 points 2 days ago

Green Book maybe? It's not really about modern-day racism as much as recent-history racism, but perhaps it helps to show what people had to deal with (and still do in many cases).

[-] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Don't have any particular titles (mostly due to not living in the US), but I've noticed black people call the genre ‘civil rights movies’: e.g. Roy Wood Jr. here and in other clips. So perhaps googling that would yield some recommendations.

[-] theywilleatthestars@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Oooo that looks good

[-] IWW4@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago

You have a freind who is MAGA.

Give up now. That is an emotional state of being. Logic and facts are a wastes of time,

My friend is open to change and I've gotten her to change her opinion on some things like book banning and trans people. (big win on the Trans part IMO)

You first have to understand the person and their reasons for WHY they may believe something before tackling it. For her, she simply wants what's best for her country, which is an innocent thing to want; I also want what's best for my country. But she thinks that through all the golden promises Trump makes that he'll be her golden ticket to the nation being "great again"

Her reasons for being MAGA play on the fear of her own country falling apart, and the desperation/hopelessness of not being able to do anything about it. Trump preys on people's fears and worries. That's what's got her hooked. And that's the angle im trynna attack it from.

Relating to her or finding common ground is the best way to get someone to see you as a person worth listening to. I've told her many times before that I'm Democrat, but she believes me to be different because I'm open-minded enough to listen to her and what she has to say. She listens to me because I give her grace in a world that would be much quicker to insult and shame her, and shame isn't a good way to change someones mind, as tempting as it can be to just call someone a "dumbass idiot"

I think that's why a lot of MAGA are so deeply rooted in their camp. It's because of the shame that may come with realizing that your entire worldview was wrong, or that they were stupid for being MAGA in the first place. And to avoid that kinda realization, they would much rather bury their head further into the sand. It can be a lot for someone to handle all at once if growing up thats all you knew.

I know this cus after debating her about the border situation and digging at her point just enough, she said something like "I'm just a cold-hearted person... but you have a lot of heart, I just don't think I have any left..." or something like that. Every day I remind her that she is a good person, even if her beliefs are... blegh– Good people can make mistakes too, good people can end up doing bad things through having good intentions. I wanna be the cushion for– if and when her ideology does fall apart– it won't ruin her completely. If that makes sense.

[-] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

A neighbor or coworker is probably a lost cause, but this friend sounds open to change.

[-] IWW4@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

I don’t understand how anyone with 1° of sense or empathy can be friends With aMAGA

I was friends with her for 4 years and only found out just 1-2 years ago when I mentioned Kamela. She doesnt blurt her politics unless you ask her to

TLDR; facts and logic arent enough to just change a person's mind. It takes understanding the individual and having a lotta empathy to break down their defensive walls for them to actually listen to you.

[-] IWW4@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

MAGA IS A MENTAL ILLNESS. People literally revere a guy whose catch phrase is YOU’RE FIRED.

What miserable piece of shit makes that their catchphrase?

[-] Hello_there@fedia.io 2 points 2 days ago
  • Redlining is something that is clear to understand and clear to understand how that affects people today. Less about putting people down today than showing that racism is a thing that affects people.
  • there was a special on PBS about 10 yrs ago called Latino Americans - and went into the history of whites squatting on and stealing the land of indigenous or Mexican landowners.
  • El Norte is a movie about a Latino family that is trying to make their way into the US. Good for empathizing with that person's situation.
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[-] dr_yeti@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I am not your negro is incredible. Not a film, but Ta-Nehesi Coates Between the world and me carries on James Baldwin's legacy.

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this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2026
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